2ND LIEUTENANT GUY RUSSELL WILLANS, 2ND BATTALION LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS. DIED OF WOUNDS 29TH MARCH 1918 AGED 19 YEARS.


2ND LIEUTENANT GUY RUSSELL WILLANS, 2ND BATTALION LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS. DIED OF WOUNDS 29TH MARCH 1918 AGED 19 YEARS.






Born in 1898 in the Wortley area of Leeds Guy Willans was the second son of John Willans and his wife Emily. His father was a wealthy cloth manufacturer who was also a director in the large firm of Hargreave and Nussey who had a large factory in Farnley. The family owned a number of homes in Leeds as well as a country house in Austwick in the Craven District and a large terraced house at 5 St Margaret’s Terrace in Ilkley which became their main home.
Guy was sent to Leeds Grammar School which was then located on Moorland Road in the Headingley are of the city and where he was academically very successful. In 1917 he was accepted as a student at Keble College, Oxford where he hoped to study for the clergy but instead he chose to enlist in the army. Granted an immediate commission he joined the 3rd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers and in late 1917 was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the regiment who were serving on the Western Front.
In late March 1918 Guy and his battalion were in the front line in a quiet sector near to the city of Arras, having avoided any involvement in the German Spring Offensive which had begun on the 21st March 1918. On the 28th March this situation changed as the Germans launched the second phase of their offensive against the positions around Arras. At about 3am that morning the German artillery opened a hurricane bombardment against the British positions before launching Stormtroopers against the dazed defenders. The 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers bore the brunt of this attack but resolutely defended their lines, beating off numerous attacks. However, the brave Lancashire suffered heavy casualties, over 220 men on that day, including Guy Willans who was badly wounded. Evacuated from the front line he was sent to a base hospital at Etaples where, sadly, he died the following day.
Today, 2nd Lieutenant Guy Russell Willans lies in the British Military Cemetery at Etaples. Although his parents lived in Ilkley they chose to remember him on the war memorial at Austick.


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